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Tasting Notes
The 2018 Chambertin Grand Cru has a very intense, brilliantly-defined bouquet with laser-like precision, incredibly focused and perfectly integrated oak. Less generous than Bichot's Chambertin at the moment though - this is biding its time. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, insistent grip and plenty of freshness. Maybe just a little more confit in style than others. Still, a fabulous Chambertin that gains clarity and precision in the glass. Effortless. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Neal Martin, Vinous
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Chambertin Grand Cru wafts from the glass with a complex bouquet of red berries, plums, rose petals and orange rind, framed by bass notes of rich, loamy soil and carnal nuances of smoked meats. Full-bodied, deep and multidimensional, it's layered and concentrated, its expansive attack segueing into a richly structured but impressively vibrant mid-palate, concluding with a long, resonant finish. This is a brilliant wine that readers should plan on forgetting for at least a decade.
I find I am lacking detailed notes on several of the wines this year at the very top end of the spectrum. They were just superlative examples of their vineyards and it was too much of a struggle to find any sort of vocabulary which could express them adequately. From the imperial purple colour onwards, this wine expresses itself magically in every dimension – dancing from one end of the universe to the other, to mangle a phrase of EM Forster’s oak and fruit, what's to say.
About the producer
Based in Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine Armand Rousseau is one of Burgundy’s most famous estates. Revered for making unearthly expressions of Pinot Noir, the estate’s wines are some of the most collectable in the world.